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Monster Jam World Finals 2
Monster Jam World Finals 2 was held on March 24, 2001 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV. This was the first World Finals to be seen live on Pay-Per-View, as the year before was on taped delay. Goldberg and Tom Meents swept racing and freestyle. Racing was unique as due to a broken water pipe, the trucks started inside the stadium for the finals and semi-finals. This would also be the first World Finals with an encore at the end of the show with Grave Digger and Goldberg. Track Layout The track was the same J style hook as the previous year, only with nothing in the middle of the racing lanes. On the left side was a ramp and landing pad and a box van. On the right side was 30 foot tall trailer, a rail car, and a van jump. Lineup as a 17th truck for the photo, ironically predicting the fact that a 17th truck (Ragin' Steel) would be needed for freestyle, as Blacksmith could not return.]] #Avenger - Jim Koehler #Blacksmith - Pablo Huffaker (racing only) (World Finals debut) #Black Stallion - Michael Vaters (World Finals debut) #Blue Thunder - Lyle Hancock #Bulldozer - Eldon DePew (World Finals debut) #Destroyer - Dan Evans (World Finals debut) #Goldberg - Tom Meents #Grave Digger 14 - Dennis Anderson #Gunslinger - Scott Hartsock #Madusa - Madusa #Predator - Allen Pezo #Ragin Steel - Pablo Huffaker (freestyle only) (World Finals debut) #Spider-Man - Gary Porter (World Finals debut; only World Finals appearance) #Sting - Tony Farrell (World Finals debut) #Sudden Impact - John Seasock #Wolverine - Brian Barthel (World Finals debut) #Wrenchead.com - Jill Canuso (World Finals debut; only World Finals appearance) Special Designs * Goldberg ran a sparkling golden design. 5sdfsdfsdf17.jpg World Finals Racing Racing Round 1 Wolverine '''vs. Black Stallion '''Predator '''vs. Madusa Grave Digger vs. '''Blacksmith Wrenchead.com vs. Blue Thunder Destroyer''' vs. '''Gunslinger (wins but crashes head on into the wall protection and cannot return) Spider Man''' vs. '''Avenger (wins but breaks the rear tie rod and cannot return) Sudden Impact vs. Bulldozer (crashes into wall protection but barely has any damage and is able to continue) Goldberg '''vs. Sting Racing Round 2 '''Wolverine '''vs. Predator Blue Thunder vs. '''Blacksmith (wins but flips into wall protection, cannot return) Spider Man vs. Destroyer Bulldozer vs. Goldberg '(note, Goldberg destroyed a waterpipe, and after this race, the track was shortened) Racing Semi Finals Wolverine vs. '''Blue Thunder '(note, this race was run twice due to a bad light on Wolverine, but Blue Thunder won both times) 'Goldberg '''vs. Destroyer Championship Race '''Goldberg '''vs. Blue Thunder (crashes) Freestyle Order # Predator # Sudden Impact # The Destroyer # Wrenchead.com # Black Stallion # Madusa # Spider-Man # Avenger # Sting # Ragin' Steel # Bulldozer # Goldberg # Grave Digger Freestyle Scores #'Goldberg - 38 #Wrenchead.com - 36 #Grave Digger - 36 #Avenger - 34 #Sting - 34 #Madusa - 33 #Spider Man - 31 #Black Stallion - 30 #Bulldozer - 28 #Ragin Steel - 27 #Destroyer - 23 #Predator - 22 #Sudden Impact - 19 #Gunslinger - DNF #Blue Thunder - DNF #Wolverine - DNF Encore Grave Digger 7 & 12 along with Goldberg 2 hit the track. Grave Digger 7 crashes early, Grave Digger 12 gets stuck along with Goldberg up on the trailer, and Goldberg 2 crashes into a damaged Grave Digger 14 left out on the track. Other Rewards * Rookie of the Year: Steve Reynolds, Bulldozer * Sportsman of the Year: John Seasock, Sudden Impact & Jim Koehler, Avenger * Crash Madness: Eldon DePew, Bulldozer Trivia * Sudden Impact's and Destroyer's freestyles were not shown on the DVD. Both trucks ran very brief runs before breaking down. They also cut out the part where John Seasock (driver of Sudden Impact) said the mildly vulgar P word during his interview as they wanted to make the home video release G-rated. * Despite Lyle Hancock missing out on the freestyle competition, he gets interviewed about Wrenchead.com's spectacular freestyle run. He even says "Oh my God!" which could be why this part was cut from the home video releases. * This was Ragin' Steel's only World Finals appearance; technically, the truck did not compete, but rather was a back-up truck borrowed by Pablo Huffaker after Blacksmith's shipping container crash. * This is the only World Finals Appearance of Gary Porter as a competitor. * This World Finals had 8 trucks with a score of 30 or more in freestyle. The most in World Finals history * Jim Koehler had a "3" flag on the back of his truck during this event as a tribute to Dale Earnhardt Sr., who had passed away in a tragic accident less than two months before the World Finals in NASCAR's 2001 Daytona 500. * Because Ragin' Steel wasn't ever set to perform, as it was only there for display purposes, it had no brakes. Temporary driver Pablo Huffaker had to borrow brakes from one of the Grave Digger trucks to drive it. This may be the reason why Dennis Anderson only brought out three Grave Diggers for freestyle when he actually had four. * Predator actually flipped over in qualifying. It came out of Thunder Alley, and when it approached the turn, it mistakenly drove too fast and flipped over on its side. It blasted a flame and it extinguished itself when it flipped onto its left side. A couple photos of this crash were actually taken and posted on the old USHRA website, and one of them was also used as the CD jewel case's interior for the 2002 video game, "Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction." However they have been forgotten about but can still be found on the old USHRA website via the Internet WayBack Machine Archive. * This was notably the only World Finals out of all 20 that did not feature a center ramp. * This is also the only World Finals to use another racing format other than the famous Vegas Style. After Goldberg struck the waterpipe in racing, the races were moved to inside the stadium due to the floods caused. This essentially created the St. Louis Style racing format, due to the similarities. * This was the first World Finals event where a certain truck (Wolverine) would be the first winner of racing but not compete for freestyle. It has been believed that Wolverine's motor was too hot to return for freestyle at its debut World Finals appearance. * Jim Koehler actually made it to the starting line to face Dan Evans in round 2, but his left rear tire somehow got flat, so the USHRA officials told Gary Porter to come to the line and make a pass to get a feel of the track as soon as he made a test bye-run in Spiderman. This was only seen on the PPV broadcast. **However, a monster truck that is ready wouldn't officially compete for racing as a bye-run until a year later at Monster Jam World Finals 3. Home Video Mistakes * When Predator leaves the track after his freestyle, the white and orange vans in the corner are not crushed, but when Wrenchhead.com hits the track next, the vans are crushed. Turns out, Destroyer, who's freestyle was not shown on the home video along with Sudden Impact, had gone right before Wrenchhead and hit them. * During Black Stallion's freestyle, his second "reverse" move was portrayed as if he accomplished it in his final five seconds of freestyle time. However, what actually happened was he didn't have time to make it over, as he needed time to align himself with the obstacle, which was more than he had time on the clock. He does, however, decide to do it anyway to appease the fans. However, the home video portrays this completely differently: it cuts out the preparation time to show it immediately. Mike's words "the time has expired," were also said before move took place, but on the home video, it was after. Non-Competing Trucks *Bounty Hunter *Grave Digger 7 *Grave Digger 12 *Grave Digger 10 *Second Goldberg *Little Tiger *The Monster Bus *Nitro Machine *Ragin' Steel *Scarlet Bandit NOTE: Two of the three pit-party Grave Diggers and the second Goldberg were featured in the encore. However, because the encore was solely for the fans and there were no competition points given out, they were technically non-competing trucks. The second Goldberg was originally used for qualifying though. Also, Pablo Huffaker did borrow and drive Ragin' Steel for freestyle, since Blacksmith had crashed over the containers in racing. Category:Events Category:Las Vegas Category:World Finals Category:2001 events